Blooming Profits: Conversations with Flower Farmers

Year 2 growth, expansion to CSA & flower holiday logistics with Brynhill Flower Farm

I catch up with Haley, a full year later after our first interview to talk about the following topics:
1) General expansion from year 1 to year 2, including how she more than doubled sales
2) Why she expanded into retail after launching with selling to wholesale only
3) Updates on her winter tulip forcing in year 2
This is less of an interview and more of two flower friends catching up. We hope you enjoy! You can find Haley at @Brynhillflowerfarm on Instagram!
 
Want to watch with visuals? Here's the link to the youtube video https://youtu.be/NkJ8VwEfK2k

Essential tips for selling flowers at farmer's markets: A deep dive (Youtube Live)

In this live, we switch gears, talking about selling retail but specifically at farmer's markets.
Jessie spent her first season selling at a local farmer's market and appeared as a guest in the 2023 season. Prior to, she had sold at dozens of markets for her other side hustle soap business.
Jordon also spent her first season at a popular farmer's market in OK.
We'll talk about what we learned, tips, pricing, set up and so much more! Hopefully by the end of this live, you'll feel more informed as to whether selling at a farmer's market is right for you, or if you've already signed up, you'll feel more confident that you'll kill it this upcoming season!
This will be a ~1 hr live where we will have a structured discussion, a quick fire section, and then open it up to more Q&A! Watch on Youtube via https://youtube.com/live/F5aDOqETBII

Talking flower farming business & profitability with Serina from You Can't Eat the Grass

This was such a fun interview with Serina from You Can't Eat the Grass! Serina and Ian have been a huge inspiration for me.
The algorithm fed me their content back in 2021 and I was hooked. This was when I didn't even realize flower farming was a "thing". Serina focuses many of her videos on the flowers and selling them, but we get into flower farming business and profitability topics like:
1) Her farmer's market vs farmstand revenue and future plans to increase sales
2) Building $20 bouquets and her process/evolution
3) Rethinking about profitable $20 bouquets by decreasing the number of stems, but still increasing the value of those stems left
4) Some ah-ha's in terms of specific varieties that she has come to realize are less profitable than one may assume
5) General plan for 2024 & beyond ($100k or bust) And much more!! A huge thank you to Serina for her generous time.
You can find them over at @YouCantEatTheGrass on Youtube.
 
Head on over to Youtube where we share this interview on the screen. Get an idea for Serina's farm scale, operations and some nifty drone shots at https://youtu.be/V31bdlBeRTU

Deep dive on selling to florists via cooperatives, collectives & direct shipping

In our 1st live, we spent all of our time primarily talking about the traditional route to selling to florists - delivering to them either through a bucket run or via an availability sheet. But ya'll were still interested in hearing more about my experiences selling to a cooperative (similar to a collective) and shipping to florists. So that's what we'll cover in this live.
This will be a ~1 hr live where we will have a structured discussion, a quick fire section, and then open it up to more Q&A! Want to see this on Youtube, including all of the visuals we show of Jessie's cooperative? Head on over to https://youtube.com/live/DHGjqIjl1CU

Deep dive into CSA's (flower subscriptions) as a main sales outlet with Alchemy Farm House

In our latest interview, I sat down with Lauren of Alchemy Farm House, located in the Hudson Valley NY.
Lauren is entering into year 4 of growing and has largely sold her flowers through a CSA subscription. She has now grown this subscription to 45 shares this winter! We take a deep dive and talk about all things related to CSA, including:
Why a CSA?
Biggest challenges with running a CSA
Starting CSA size and scaling it up
Structuring a CSA Approaching small businesses to partner with
Pricing
General thoughts about having a CSA as a main sales outlet
I hope you find this interview as helpful as I did. You can find Lauren at https://www.alchemyfarmhouse.com/ and @alchemyfarmhouseblooms on Instagram.
Want to watch the visuals that come along with this interview? Head on over to Youtube at https://youtu.be/-mpX6YH4R-g

Deep dive on selling to florists for beginners - availability Sheets, bucket runs and more! (Youtube Live)

 In our first of many joint weekend morning coffee chats (via Youtube Live), Jordon and I will go into deeeeeep details about selling to florists.
Why us? We are two "newer" flower farmers reflecting back on selling to florists for the first time (Jessie was in year 2, Jordon was in year 1).
Here is what's going to make this conversation interesting:
** We have two completely different sized farms. Jessie grows on 40x90 ft with a heavy focus on forcing programmable crops like tulips & Lilies in New Jersey. Jordon grows on much larger acreage, having invested huge to go "big" starting in year 1.
** Between the 3 of us, we sell through 3 outlets to florists 1) Direct to florist (delivering to them) 2) Direct to florist (online & shipping to them) 3) Via a cooperative
This will be a ~1 hr live where we will have a structured discussion, a quick fire section, and then open it up to more Q&A!

How this 1st yr flower farmer pitched & found a profitable sales outlet with Springdale Flower Farm

I sit down with Melinda from Springdale Flower Farm, located in Dover, MA about how she found success in her 1st year of flower farming on just 800 sq ft.
Melinda is a complete new grower who started from complete scratch this year. She not only had to learn flower varieties, but also how to grow and sell her product. Impressively, she achieved all this AND found a very profitable sales outlet, with some weeks selling $1k! 
Catch this interview over at Youtube at https://youtu.be/vZaXm5KyBdo